Maybe if Bologna had more experienced players who played in Europe on a regular bases, tonight’s result would have been different. Maybe if Bologna didn’t lose coach Thiago Mota, and players like Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United) and Marko Arnautovic ( Inter Milan), maybe the Italian could have gone home with at least a point from this game. But instead, the expected happened – Liverpool won 2-0, and continued their streak of winning each of their last 11 group/league stage games at Anfield in major European competitions, scoring 2+ goals in their last 10 in a row. They did it because Bologna didn’t use their chances (and they did have them) and because the Reds had Mohamed Salah.5 – Mohamed Salah is the third player to score in five consecutive UEFA Champions League home games for a Premier League side, after Thierry Henry with Arsenal (7) and Ruud van Nistelrooy with Manchester United (6). Kopite.— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 2, 2024 The Egyptian is in fantastic form so far and tonight became the first Liverpool player to score in five consecutive home games in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League. He scored in all four of his appearances at Anfield in his previous season in this competition (four goals in 2022-23). Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 13 goals across his last 11 home appearances in European competition (seven goals, six assists), and he added two more tonight, with an assist for the first goal and a beautiful volley which sealed the game in the 75th minute. Coach Arne Slot also went into the history books as he became the first Liverpool manager to win eight of his first nine matches.Before scoring after only 11 minutes, Liverpool were all over Bologna, trying to press them as soon as possible and score, which they eventually did. Mac Allister passed the ball to Nunez, who worked it wide to Salah. The Eqyptian made a great cross and the Argentinian finished the action he started in a perfect way – with a leading goal. Another goal followed in the 17th minute, when Alexander-Arnold sliped Nunez through on goal, but it was offside and goal was nullified. Nunez then had another opportunity eight minutes later, this time from Van Dijk’s pass, but his shot was saved by Skorupski. Finally the guests created their first chance after half and hour and it was a great one, but Dan Ndoye only rattled the crossbar. The same player had another shot of the post minutes later, before he assisted Urbanski in the 34th minute, but Alisson saved an equalizer.Bologna continued the second half just like they ended the first period – with a good chance. Alisson again had to save his team, this time after a shot from Riccardo Orsolini. Liverpool struggled to rediscover the rhythm they found early in the first half and Slot switched Nunez with Jota but that didn’t help. Instead, Salah had to do his magic again, and when Alexander-Arnold took away two defenders in the 75th minute, the Egyptian had enough space to come in from the right side and hit the top left corner of Bologna’s goal with his left foot. 2-0, game over, goodbye. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 2TuesdaySalzburg – Brest 0-4 (0-1)/Sima 24, 70, Camara 66, Lage 76/Stuttgart – Sparta Praha 1-1 (1-1)/Millot 7 – Kairinen 32/Leverkusen – Milan 1-0 (0-0)/Boniface 51/Dortmund – Celtic 7-1 (5-1)/Can 8 pen, Adeyemi 11, 29, 42, Guirassy 40 pen, Nmecha 79 – Maeda 9/Barcelona – Young Boys 5-0 (3-0)/Lewandowski 8,51, Raphinha 34, Martinez 37, Camara 81 og/Inter – Crvena Zvezda 4-0 (1-0)/Calhanoglu 11, Arnautovic 59, Martinez 71, Taremi 81 pen/Arsenal – PSG 2-0 (2-0)/Havertz 20, Saka 35/Slovan B. – Man.City 0-4 (0-2)/Gundogan 8, Foden 15, Haaland 58, Mcatee 74/PSV – Sporting 1-1 (1-0)/Schouten 15 – Braganca 83/WednesdayGirona – Feyenoord 2-3 (1-2)/Lopez 20, van de Beek 74 – Herrera 23 og, Milambo 33, Krejci 79 og/Shakhtar – Atalanta 0-3 (0-2)/Djimsiti 21, Lookman 44, Bellanova 48/Dinamo Zagreb – Monaco 22 (1-0)/Sucic 45+3, Baturina 66 – Salisu 74, Zakaria 89/Lille – Real Madrid 1-0 (1-0)/David 45+3 pen/Benfica – Atl.Madrid 4-0 (1-0)/Akturkoglu 13, Di Maria 52, Bah 75, Kokcu 85//Aston Villa – Bayern 1-0 (0-0)/Duran 79/RB Leipzig – Juventus 2-3 (1-0)/Sesko 30, 65(p) – Vlahović 50, 68, Conceicao 82/Liverpool – Bologna 2-0 (1-0)/Mac Allister 11, Salah 75/Sturm – Club Brugge 0-1 (0-1)/Tzolis 23/
